Race Week

Well, it’s race week! What I mean by that is on Saturday December 20th I will be running in my very first 10K, A Christmas Carol Classic. This race signifies the culmination of a commitment I made to myself four months ago when I decided to run a 5K and a 10K by the end of the year.

Last Tuesday I wrote about how back in August I decided to change a few things about my life and that one aspect of that was evaluating my motives. Well, another aspect was changing my health. In particular, I sought to change my eating habits and move more.

I bought a Fitbit Flex and began walking during my lunch break. The more I walked the better I felt, and before long, I went from barely walking around my neighborhood to walking six miles. It was at that point I decided to do something I had always wanted but never thought I would do. I decided to become a runner.

I found a 5K, the Chick-Fil-A 5k, and began training. I used the Couch-to-5K (C25K) free app by Zen Labs to train. It’s an eight-week program that gradually increases your running time, and it was great. On the day of the race I felt both excited and nervous, but my family was there to root me on, and thanks to the C25K app, I was able to run the whole time and finished at just over forty minutes.

With half of my goal complete, I began training using the Couch-to-10K (10K Trainer) free app by Zen Labs. The 10K Trainer app is a 14-week program, but it lines up perfectly with the C25K app, allowing you to pick up right at week nine. I finished the program a week ago and am looking forward to my 10K this Saturday with anticipation and excitement.

Through this process I have lost over fifty pounds, and I now call myself a runner. I am very thankful for my wife who has been a constant source of encouragement throughout this whole process, for my other family and friends who have and will cheer me on during my races and to Zen Labs for creating an amazing suite of apps that have helped me get to where I am today.